The Three Levels
Paul names three kinds of human in 1 Corinthians. Here are all three with every verse, what the early Christians called them, and who taught the other side.
Three kinds of human in one letter.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians around 55 AD. In the space of four verses he names the natural man, the spiritual man and the carnal, and only one of them is ready for solid food.
| Verse | The kind of human | Greek | What Paul says |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Corinthians 2:14 | The natural man | psychikos, the soul man | He can't receive the things of the Spirit of God, because to him they are foolishness. |
| 1 Corinthians 2:15 | The spiritual man | pneumatikos, the breath man | He judges all things, and he himself is judged by no one. |
| 1 Corinthians 3:1 to 2 | The carnal | sarkinos, made of flesh | Babies in Christ. Paul fed them milk and not meat, because they could not take it yet. |
| 1 Thessalonians 5:23 | All three in one person | pneuma, psyche, soma | May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless. |
| 1 Corinthians 15:44 to 46 | The direction | psychikon to pneumatikon | It is sown a natural body and raised a spiritual body. The natural comes first, and the spiritual after. |
I fed you with milk, and not with meat, because you weren't able to take it.
Hylic, psychic, pneumatic.
Around 180 AD, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon, wrote five books against the students of Valentinus, a teacher who had worked in Rome around 140 AD. Book 1, chapter 6 is titled the threefold kind of man.
| Level | From the Greek | What the Valentinians said, as Irenaeus records it |
|---|---|---|
| Hylic | hyle, wood, raw matter | Material substance can't receive incorruption, so it perishes with the body. Against Heresies 1.6 |
| Psychic | psyche, soul | It sits halfway between the other two and passes to whichever side its inclination draws it. Against Heresies 1.6 |
| Pneumatic | pneuma, breath, wind | Like gold dropped in filth, it does not lose its beauty. Against Heresies 1.6 |
Documented RecordIrenaeus called it heresy. He still wrote their system down from their own books and from talking with their followers, which is why we can read it today.
Engineering InferenceThe Valentinians said your level is fixed by nature, gold is gold and wood is wood. Paul says you are sown at one level and raised at another. The levels are a ladder, and the middle rung is the one that moves.
Dust, breath, living soul.
The three levels are in the first verse that makes a human being. Genesis 2:7 is built in three moves.
| Genesis 2:7 | Hebrew | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| God forms the man from the dust of the ground | `afar min ha-adamah | Dust from the ground. Adam is named after adamah, the ground he came out of. |
| He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life | nishmat chayyim | The breath of life, blown in from outside. |
| And the man becomes a living soul | nephesh chayyah | A living soul, the thing that happens when the breath meets the dust. |
Documented RecordIn 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul says the first Adam was made a living soul, and the last Adam, Jesus, was made a spirit that gives life.
Documented RecordIrenaeus records the Valentinian reading of the same verse: the body from the earth, the soul from a lesser maker they called the Demiurge, and the spiritual man, the spark, from above, from a mother figure they called Achamoth. Against Heresies 1.5
Who taught the other side.
1 Enoch 6 says 200 angels came down on the summit of Mount Hermon in the days of Jared, the father of Enoch, and swore an oath together. Then they started handing top-level tools to people living on the bottom two.
| Watcher | What he taught | Verse |
|---|---|---|
| Semjaza, the leader | Enchantments and the cutting of roots | 1 Enoch 6:3, 8:3 |
| Azazel | Swords, knives, shields and breastplates, the metals of the earth, bracelets, ornaments, painting the eyes with antimony, costly stones and dyes | 1 Enoch 8:1 |
| Armaros | The undoing of enchantments | 1 Enoch 8:3 |
| Baraqijal | Astrology | 1 Enoch 8:3 |
| Kokabel | The constellations | 1 Enoch 8:3 |
| Shamsiel | The signs of the sun | 1 Enoch 8:3 |
| Sariel | The course of the moon | 1 Enoch 8:3 |
| All 200 | Charms and enchantments, the cutting of roots, and the knowledge of plants. The Greek copy has pharmakeia next to rhizotomia, root-cutting. | 1 Enoch 7:1 |
Documented RecordJude 14 calls Enoch the seventh from Adam. 1 Enoch 10:12 has God tell Michael to bind Semjaza and his associates for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment.
Engineering InferencePharmakeia is the root of the word pharmacy. The Watchers' first lesson, the cutting of roots, is still running.
They live off the middle.
The same chapter of Paul that names the levels names the rulers. The word is archontes, the archons.
| Verse | What it says about who runs the world |
|---|---|
| 1 Corinthians 2:8 | None of the princes of this world, the archontes, knew the wisdom of God, because if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. |
| Against Heresies 1.5 | The Valentinians called the devil Cosmocrator, the ruler of the world. |
| John 12:31 | Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. |
| 2 Corinthians 4:4 | The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. |
| Luke 4:5 to 6 | The devil shows Jesus every kingdom in a moment of time and says, all this power I will give you, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whoever I want. |
| Revelation 18:23 | By your pharmakeia, your sorceries, all the nations were deceived. |
Engineering InferenceThe middle level, the soul that goes wherever it is pulled, is the level every feed and every offer fights for. The power in Luke 4:6 is handed to whoever bows, so the line runs by agreement, not by blood.
Documented RecordJesus has eaten nothing for forty days, and he still says no. Luke 4:8: worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
Thank you, and I love you.
The middle is a staircase. Climb it on purpose.
- Tomorrow morning, before you touch your phone, take seven slow breaths through your nose. Pneuma is breath, and Genesis 2:7 says that is how the life got in.
- Pick one voice you let into your ear that only talks about what you can touch, and cut its time in half for seven days.
- The next time something true bounces off someone, ask which level heard it, theirs or yours.
- When an offer shows up this week that wants you to bow to get something, say it out loud: him only shall I serve.
Sources
- The Holy Bible. Genesis 2:7 · 1 Corinthians 2:6 to 3:3, 15:44 to 46 · 1 Thessalonians 5:23 · Luke 4:1 to 8 · John 12:31 · 2 Corinthians 4:4 · Jude 14 · Revelation 18:23.
- Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, Book 1, c. 180 AD. Chapter 5, the formation of the Demiurge and the spiritual man from Achamoth. Chapter 6, the threefold kind of man. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I.
- The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch), translated by R. H. Charles, 1917. Chapters 6 to 10. Public domain. The full Book of the Watchers is at hermon.christcode.ai.
- Tertullian, Against the Valentinians 4. Valentinus in Rome.
Lane Legend
Documented Record Stated in the source text named beside it. Tradition Handed down by the early church or the rabbis. Engineering Inference A connection drawn across sources.